


Take Your Place in the World

by KaiKnight



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, M/M, New Zealand, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-07-24 12:55:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7509040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaiKnight/pseuds/KaiKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two houses, nothing alike in dignity, go head to head in the local Student Pub Quiz.  </p><p>Ymir is an Honors Student in English and Linguistics. Historia is a third year Law student. Ymir works part time as a campus security guard and Historia occasionally works as a bartender for events. One night, Historia makes the mistake of going down to the main Library on campus instead of the Law Library. It's all downhill from there.  </p><p>This is, for the most part, a light hearted story about friendships forming, political uprisings, falling in love and fierce team rivalry. (Pairings and characters will be added as I update - looking for someone to help QC/Beta read as I can't use grammar to save my life...).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Library

**Author's Note:**

> Lets see how OOC I can make this (and how long it takes me to update it...record so far is two years..hahahaha). Basically this is an idea I have been sitting on since NanoWriMo in 2014, it's set in the city I went to University in and at the University I attended.

“You’re being about as subtle as a punch in the face Ymir.” Throwing a wadded up ball of paper at his older sister, Marco Boldt quirked a knowing eyebrow in her direction.

“Shut up Marco…” swatting the ball away irritably before it hit her, Ymir turned and glared at her younger brother, tearing her eyes reluctantly off of the tiny blonde woman talking animatedly to the library assistant at the desk. Spinning on her chair she resumed her watch of the library gate. Marco went back to reading and working on his assignment at the table behind her.

Nothing exciting had happened so far during her shift, and there was an hour left to go before the closing bells rung. It was the start of semester one, so far only the newly minted Health Science freshmen and her brother were taking their courses seriously. The occasional post-graduate student would wander in under a mountain of books looking about as depressed as Ymir felt. All the other students were out enjoying the final days of summer before the weather turned to horse shit and mid-semester exams started to get uncomfortably close. She herself was in her honours year and piled up beside her post was a stack of books and papers on English Literature and Linguistics.

Her job sucked most of the time. The hours were ridiculous for one thing, six-hour evening shifts from 5pm to 11.15pm four days a week, and a massively long 9 hour shift on Sunday afternoon from 3pm to 11.15pm. The actual work she did for the most part was pretty mind numbing, she alternated between sitting or standing in the entrances of one of University Libraries, keeping an eye on things and closing up when the library shut, making sure nobody was locked in for the night.

If anybody acted up or tried to steal one of the books, she was the first responder. This year had started off quieter than last, she’d had no streakers or drunk students stumble their way into the main library during O-week. There had only been two or three incidents where someone’s mates had slipped un-issued books into their bag to set the buzzer off, but other than that everything had been pretty bland.  

Occasionally her younger brother or one of her flat-mates would bring her dinner and then study until closing and walk home with her. Sometimes she’d see a class mate or friend and they’d pass an hour or two procrastinating by talking about whatever came to mind. Sometimes the library staff would be equally bored and they’d bring down a deck of cards and they’d play kids games like go fish or snap. On rarer occasions she’d see her lecturers come in and she would snag them to answer questions she hadn’t had the opportunity to ask in class and had been too lazy to email them about.  

Sometimes there would be events down at the big stadium by the bay or at one of the many small venues in town that she was called in to help with, but those instances were few and far between. This position offered her a great   opportunity to people watch. On the quieter days like today she could catch up on readings for her classes or dissertation. But that was about it. Fairly regularly she was bored out of her mind and would take to pacing between the gates and front desk. Her job sucked, but it was ideal for a nearly always broke student with a dissertation worth 60% of her over all grade to write.

“Excuse me?” Ymir nearly fell off her chair. She’d been so focused on zoning out that she hadn’t heard the blonde girl walk over.  Blushing to the tips of her ears she swallowed and stood up.

“How may I help you?” she asked, her voice sounding very much like one of those automated answer machines.

“The librarian couldn’t desensitise this book and told me to tell you to pass it around the gate so it didn’t set it off.” The girl was a good two heads shorter, if not more, than Ymir was. She looked to be in her late teens, early twenties and carried herself with an air of grace that Ymir could never hope to emulate.

 Her blonde hair was cut to just a bit below shoulder length and today it was pulled back into something of a messy bun. Her eyes were a startling shade of blue that were only accented by dark under-eye circles from lack of sleep. She wore no apparent make up and her clothes were a plain pair of loose green cotton pants and a light blue tank top with some logo that Ymir didn’t recognise. Her bra was visible from the arm holes as was the trend these days, and Ymir caught sight of a floral tattoo hiding under the strap, trailing over the girl’s ribs. “ _Yum”_ the very predatory thought that creeped into Ymir’s brain before she stomped on it mentally and shook her head to clear it. She really was being as subtle as a punch in the face.

Glancing over to the desk where the librarian sat, he nodded his head and made a shooing motion to give Ymir the ok to do what she had been asked. Taking the book the other girl offered her, Ymir nearly ate dirt again. It was a good deal heavier than she expected. Peering down at the title she saw it was one of the many case study books for third year law students, Ymir winced. Handing it over the glass barrier she looked her in the eye.

“Good luck.” She said with very real sympathy. The girl sighed and nodded once sharply, grimacing wryly.

“I’m going to need it. Thanks.” And then she smiled.  Ymir saw stars and stood mesmerised for a full minute as the girl sauntered away. Snapping out of her daze she spun around and shuffled over to her brother.

“Marco.” Slamming her hands down on the table she made her brother drop his pen and nearly smack himself in the face with his drink bottle. “Holy _fuck._ I think I’m in love.”

“For crying out Ymir. You say that about every mildly attractive girl that walks through this bloody building.” Irritated he shooed her away as she protested. “Go do you dam job, for crying out loud I’m trying to finish this bloody thing so I can actually enjoy this weekend.”

Grumbling about the lack of family understanding Ymir wandered her way over to the unsuspecting librarian who was tidying up the desk and getting ready to call it a night.

“Yo, Armin.” The boy jumped, “that girl you just served. What was her name?”

“Ymir you know I can’t just give out information like that…”

“Is she your girlfriend? You two looked pretty chummy.”

“Oh HECK no. She’s my cousin.” Ymir’s eyes lit up as Armin realized he’d just had one of his very rare fatal lapses in judgment. “Ah crap. No Ymir. You know I can’t go dishing out student’s private information. And no, I won’t give her your number, stop stealing the office supplies.”

“You suck……”

“Have a nice night Ymir…” Taking her cue Ymir put the pen and notepad back in their place and sulked back to her post. As she settled in Armin announced that the library would be closing soon and that the front desk was officially closed. Instead of using the front door like he usually did to leave work, he slipped out the staff exit just to avoid another attempt to mine him for information he could see Ymir working on concocting. Thanking his lucky stars that he didn’t have to work with her for another couple of days he made his way home, waving cheerily to her through the window on his way past.

After another half hour the bells rang and Ymir cleared and locked the library, collecting her brother and their long boards on her way out the door.

“So do you know that girl Armin was talking to? She’s third year like you.” Marco groaned and rolled his eyes.

“You’re really not going to let this one go are you?”

“But do you know her? Armin said she was his cousin. You’re mates with Armin...”

“Dude, she’s third year Law. I’m third year History. I haven’t really talked to Armin about family.”

“How do you know she’s Law? I didn’t say anything about that?”

“Shit…” Dropping his long board onto the pavement Marco pushed off with as much force as he could muster and began to gain speed down the hill. “See you at home Ymir!” he called over his shoulder.

Ymir swore at him and began to follow. She soon caught up.

“What do you know you little punk?”

“I know you’re being fucking creepy.”

“Why you….”

“Dude, if you see her again, be a normal person and introduce yourself.”

Grumbling she kicked past him and rolled up to their run down flat. Unlocking the door, she walked through it and then was a massive prick and shut it and relocked it in her brothers face.


	2. The Concert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The drinking age in NZ is 18, but these fools have been aged up for this AU anyway. Again, it's been a while since I have actually consumed any AOT/SNK stuff from official sources (I did read the last chapter though, ho boy, my poor heart), so this is probably pretty far OOC. 
> 
> Connie in this is a DMAB Non-Binary kid, who uses they/them/their pronouns, so if you catch a slip up, please let me know! I see them and Sasha as Queer Platonic Partners(Pranksters) with Sasha being both a-gender and asexual. She uses female pronouns for the most part, but has been considering going down the same line as Connie with they/them/their. 
> 
> I literally had this idea nearly two years ago while I was working at a Lorde concert as a security guard. I was involved in the drinking culture a bit while I was at Uni, it's not all fun and games though kids. Be responsible. Hydrate and look out for each other.

“Two house beers and a Lemon Cruiser.” Ymir lent on the bar top and surveyed the pumped crowd before her. It was nice not to be working for a change.

She had been offered the shift for this gig, but she turned it down as she had already bought tickets. One of her favourite singers had finally made the decision to visit the city, and there was no way Ymir was going to miss out on being here for the full show. Her, Sasha and Connie had come together and lined up for the standing seats to the live house about an hour earlier. For some reason Jean and Marco had declined to join them and had opted for gallery seats which cost an arm and a leg more.

“I’m sorry but I can’t sell more than one drink to a customer at a time unless I can see ID for all those intending to drink.” Ymir froze. She had only heard that voice once before but it had haunted her dreams and day dreams for the last two weeks. She turned away from the crowd, and sure enough there was the tiny blonde angel from the Library. Swallowing she apologised and hollered at her friends before fumbling for her own ID.

“Sash, Connie. Butts over here with ID NOW!” her mates groaned from where they had just secured standing room and made their way over to the bar.

“Oh! Historia! Long-time no see!” Sasha bounced up and down, excited to see this particular bar-tender on duty. “How’s Law going for you?” The bar-tender grimaced and rolled her eyes.

“Same old, same old. Readings are such a pain.”

“That’s why I dropped out and changed to PE in first year.” Sasha made a show of flexing as she handed over her ID. Historia chuckled and hit Sasha with her ID as she handed it back.

“I wish I had done something similar. Too late now though.” Gesturing to Connie, she took their ID and briefly scrutinised it before handing it over. “Next…”

In a daze Ymir handed hers over along with cash for all three drinks. She knew she was probably imagining things, but Historia did seem to take a bit longer with checking her details than she had with the others. Historia handed back Ymir’s ID in slow motion, almost seeming to deliberately brush Ymir’s hand in the process. Ymir shivered before catching herself and turning it into a stretch. Soon the group had their drinks and they moved away from the bar to reclaim their spot as close to the stage as they could manage.

“So Sasha…that Historia chick…. She’s Armin’s cousin right?” Ymir tried her best not to sound thirsty as she took a sip of her cruiser.    

“Gosh, someone’s thirsty.” Connie commented. Ymir’s drink came out her nose as she spluttered in protest.

“She was my classmate in first year, when I thought Law was a good idea.” A wicked glint simultaneously appeared in both Sasha and Connie’s eyes as they seized on where this was going. “You think she’s cute or something ‘Mir?”

Wiping her face clean from the spluttering she had just done, Ymir fixed both of her friends with an icy glare. Before letting it melt and sighing.

“Yeah. So what?”

Connie and Sasha high fived, then chugged their beers like the responsible students they were. Ymir downed hers a good deal slower, letting the sickly sweet taste drown out her uncharacteristic embarrassment. 

“Next rounds on me. Same drinks again Ymir, Sash?” Connie asked before snatching their IDs off of them and leaving the others for the bar once they had confirmed their orders. Ymir finished off her drink in surly silence as Sasha puffed out to make sure nobody stole Connie’s standing space. They had about ten minutes until the gig began.

“She’s Historia Reiss. 3rd Year Law, somewhere near the top of the class I think. She’s older than Armin by six months, younger than Annie by a year. And lucky for you, she’s just as gay as they are.” Sasha had a field day as she watched Ymir process this titbit of information.

“So that means I’m two years older? Annie would skewer me if she’s as protective of her as she is of Armin…” She had forgotten that Annie and Armin were related. The despair in Ymir’s voice was pretty funny from Sasha’s point of view.

“Bruh. Historia’s more mature than you could ever hope to be. She’s not a child either. You’re 22 you dork. That means she’s 20. You wouldn’t exactly be robbing the cradle.” Connie was back, he handed Sasha her beer while resting Ymir’s ice cold drink on the side of her burning face.

“Oh wow. PE Major can do math.” Swiping the drink from Connie’s hand she began to sullenly sip on it. Connie and Sasha made a point of huddling together and using stage whispers to communicate with each other.

“Ohh…this tall ass tree’s fallen hard for the little blonde bar tender.” Connie slurred.

“But she’s too chicken to do anything about it.” Sasha cackled.

“Ten bucks says she won’t ever make a move and will just bitch at us like a love sick puppy for a few months until someone sensible comes along and sweeps blondie off of her feet.”

“A twenty says she and blondie hook up at a random party in the next six months.”  

Both goobers spat on their palms and clasped each other’s hand in a firm shake.

“Deal.”

“Deal.”

“You guys are so disgusting.” Ymir grumbled. The stage lights flicked on and suddenly the crunch of a guitar could be heard. The crowd surged forward with a roar, and the trio began to mosh, drinks in hand, the stupidity of five seconds ago all but forgotten in the crash of music.

The show was well worth the money the students had shelled out for it. They enjoyed themselves, moshing and jumping right up until the intermission when the stage hands came on to re-arrange the set for the second half. One of the perks of this singer was her unique stage show. Her voice was pretty fantastic, but her sets were insane. When they had room to breathe, the trio wandered over towards the bar.

“Guys. Be my wing people.” Ymir said, dead serious.

Connie and Sasha looked at each other.  Ymir immediately regretted her decision.  As they approached the top of Historia’s line, she fixed the three of them with a dazzling smile. Connie and Sasha saw their chance. They darted either side of Ymir, both of them then looped an arm around Ymir’s waist and hoisted her into the air while flapping one of her arms each.

“What are you doing?” Historia asked, perplexed and perhaps a little bit done with drunken patrons.

“Being her wing people.” Sasha informed her. Ymir sighed. Connie cackled.

“What do you want to drink this time?” Historia decided to deal with the clowns with as much professionalism as she could muster.

“Beers!” chorused Connie and Sasha.

“Jaeger-bomb.” Muttered Ymir as they set her down and scurried off after showing ID.  

“So, wing people huh?” Historia commented as she poured the drinks.

“Yeah. Don’t ask…I’m pretty embarrassed to know those two to be honest.” Ymir knew she was pretty much beyond hope at this point; her game was over before she could even consider it started.

“How do you say your name by the way. I asked Armin the other day and he wouldn’t tell me. He spouted something about professionalism…and I couldn’t quite figure it out from your ID.” Ymir’s heart leaped into her throat. Ok maybe not. If Historia had been asking about her, then maybe she had a chance.

“Like uh… e-mir. Ymir Llagner-Boldlt. It’s Norse, my Mum’s pretty big on mythology.” Ymir wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

“Ymir. Got it. Nice to meet you. I’m Historia. Historia Reiss.” Historia fixed her with a stunning smile as she slid Connie’s beer over the bar top to Ymir. Ymir nearly missed it, being that she was caught like a deer in headlights. “Speaking of Mythology, do you take Classics 301?”

“Uh yeah, it’s an interest paper for me. I had a spare slot.”

“Me too! I thought I’d seen you outside of the library before.”

“Wait what? You’re in my class? I haven’t seen you before!”

“I usually sit in the middle, towards the wall, out of the lecturer’s line of sight. I’ve yet do the readings for that class…I’ve got too many Law files to get through…I bail as soon as he finishes too.”

“Oh dang. Yeah, that book was pretty heavy the other day.”

“I finished it already, got another one waiting for me over the weekend. Speaking of finishing, my shift ends soon, would you mind if I joined you and the others for a bit? I get to see out the rest of the concert. My boss brought us gig privileges because most of us were wanting tickets and wouldn’t have worked tonight if he hadn’t.”

“Sure!” Ymir squeaked. She could not believe where this was going. How on earth could she get this lucky.

“See you soon then. Be careful with the drinks.” Sliding Sasha’s beer and Ymir’s Jaeger bomb over in a cardboard holder Historia winked at Ymir and moved on to serving the next patron. Ymir jammed Connie’s beer into the cup holder and walked on air towards where her wing people had secured spots. They were grinning like a pack of Hyenas.

“Guys. She _talked_ talked to me.”

“We saw.” Sasha said, grabbing her beer.

“She’s going to come and hang after her shift finishes in a bit.”

“Cool cool.” Connie said taking their own beer.  “We’re _fantastic_ wing people. We should start charging.”

“Connie, you owe Sasha and I ten bucks.” Ymir said, dropping her Jaeger shot into the Red Bull and chugging it back.

“Fuck.” They cursed and then cocked an eyebrow. “Wait, why do I owe you ten bucks?”

“Cause I’m adding my own bet to the pot. Fifteen says I can get her number tonight.”

Sasha spat on her hand, Connie did the same, Ymir rolled her eyes and reluctantly completed the ritual.

“You guys are fucking disgusting.”

“We know.” They chorused. They settled into a weird silence as they sipped their drinks. A few minutes passed and Ymir was becoming steadily more worried. It was clear that the two of them were plotting something, but it was not clear what. She was at a disadvantage as the two before her had developed some kind of weird sign language to communicate with each other at times like this. 

“Oh! Hey Historia!” Sasha said, breaking the silence suddenly. Ymir spun around and nearly slipped on the wet, sticky venue floor. Historia was not there. Sasha was being a punk. Connie was cracking up.

“Real funny guys.” Ymir muttered darkly. Snatching their now empty plastic cups from them she stomped off over to the nearest rubbish bin. By the time she got back, Historia had made it over. She’d changed from her work uniform into a plain black pair of jeans and a similar tank top to the one she had worn when Ymir first “met” her at the library. This one was a mossy green and had the singer’s logo on the front.

“So you’re a really big fan then?” Ymir asked after greeting the new addition to their group.

“Yeah. I’m so pumped for this. A little nervous though. I’ve never had standing tickets.”

“The moshing gets pretty crazy in here; you might want to take it easy if you’re not good with crowds.”

“That’s what I’m nervous about…”

“Ah. Well we’ve got your back, right guys?” Ymir turned to Connie and Sasha who were watching with the same Hyena grins on their faces as they’d had before.

“Yeap.”

“Totally. Stand in front of Ymir when things get started, she’s good at keeping creeps off you and pretty good at hauling you up if you stumble.” Sasha gave Ymir the thumbs up.

“Obviously not doing a good enough job of keeping away the creeps if you two are still hanging around.” Ymir muttered darkly, she was rewarded with squawks of protest from the two clowns and delighted laughter from Historia.

The music started back up in again and the crowd once again surged forward with a roar. Historia let out a squeak as the sudden movement took her by surprise and she could feel herself falling forward. She was set right by large hands catching her under her arms and pulling her to a standing position in front of someone incredibly tall. She looked over her shoulder and saw Ymir mouth ‘ _are you ok?’_ at her as she withdrew her hands. Nodding Historia took a deep breath. As the frantic drumbeat of the first song of the second set kicked in, the crowd begun to mosh. Ymir protected the tiny blonde in front of her and Connie and Sasha flanked the two of them to make sure they weren’t crushed from the side. The four of them enjoyed themselves in the press of the crowd, jumping and singing along with the singer for the entire set.

During the last song of the encore, Historia misjudged one of her jumps, slamming her head upwards into Ymir’s jaw. The taller woman let out a yelp but grinned down at Historia before continuing to rock out, settling a hands on one of Historia’s shoulders to avoid a repeat. The blonde had the grace to blush. As the final note of the song rang out, and the singer said her thankyous, the crowd began to spread out towards the exit. Ymir’s hand left Historia’s shoulder and their little group wandered off to the side by the bar.

“Ymir…you’re bleeding.” Sasha said, surprised.

“Oh fuck. Am I?” Ymir brought her hand up to her face feeling around for the tell tale signs of wetness.

“On your lip man…dude, that’s a pretty good split lip there…” Connie said in awe.

“Shit, my boss ain’t gonna be pleased…” digging around in her pocket for a tissue, Ymir was surprised when Historia awkwardly reached up and pressed down on her lip with a wad of napkins from the bar top.

“Sorry…that was probably my fault…” Historia was bright red, and looked a little worried.

“Ah, no worries dude. Did I bleed on you. Sash, can you see anything?” Gently taking over the pressure on her lip from Historia, Ymir did her best to grin down at the shorter girl. In reality, it was probably the stupidest thing she could have done at that moment, it just made her look like some kind of bloodsucking monster, fresh after a meal. 

“Nah you good. Blondie’s blood free.” Sasha said after doing a quick inspection.

“You going to Reiners party ‘mir?” Connie asked.

“Of course ya twit. It’s at my house.”

“Oh yeah. Right. No more beers for me for a bit I think…”

“That would be wise I think…” Ymir said dryly.

“What about you Historia? Wanna join us, it’s down on Union street, open invite. A bunch of kids from the PE, English and Ling Departments will be there.” Sasha had sidled up to Historia and was going in for the catch, but the blonde obviously had some experience with this tatic as she side stepped out of the looming side hug.

“I’d love to but I have a ton of readings to do tomorrow. I can’t stay out too late, so I think that I’ll just catch a cab and go home.”

“Ah, that’s too bad. We’ll see you round campus at some point then?” Connie asked.

“Yeah sure. Hey Ymir, would you mind if I got your number?” Historia had turned her big blue eyes on Ymir almost pleadingly, there was a real hint of guilt in her eyes as she peered up at Ymir. “If you get in to any trouble with your boss you can get them to ring me to clear it up for you?”

“Uhhh….” Ymir’s brain chose that exact moment to go on holiday.

“Sure, she’d love to give it to you. Here’s her number...” Sasha darted out of the way as Ymir lunged at her playfully and then took over and punched the numbers into Historia’s phone.

“I’ll see you guys later then.” Historia waved as she walked down the stairs. Hailing a cab she jumped in and was gone almost as if the whole thing had never happened.

The Trio followed suit and started walking down the main street towards Ymir’s house together. Ymir could not believe that her luck had turned so quickly. _Ha! Take that Armin!_ She thought with glee.

 Ymir’s pocket buzzed with a notification and she pulled out her phone so fast she almost dropped it.

**_Hey, it’s Historia. Here’s my number. I had fun tonight. Thanks for looking out for me. Sorry about your lip…Let me know if you need anything for it. I’ll cover costs. X(_ **

Texting back lightning fast Ymir hoped she didn’t come off as a total creep.

**_Hey! We all had a blast with you. Don’t sweat the lip thing. If you’re that worried about it, shout me a coffee after class on Wednesday._ **

Her phone went off again.

**_Sure! I’m looking forward to it! Be safe!_ **

“Hey, guys.” Ymir said.

“What?” Connie and Sasha looked at each other, suddenly nervous.

“Pay up.”

“Shit. I don’t have $25 on me. Can I get it to you later this week?” Connie said.

“Just bring me something good to eat when I’m working on Sunday.”

“Deal.”

“I’ll bring you something on Monday night?” Sasha queried.

“I’m not spitting again. But I’m holding you both to it. I know where you live.” Ymir was walking on air. By the time they made it to her flat, her lip had stopped bleeding enough for her to lopsidedly smile.

 


	3. The Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin tried to warn her, but Historia walks in on something she probably shouldn't have.

“Hey Armin! Do you know if Annie is home?” Historia was in the process of punching in her front door code as her cousin rolled up on his penny board. He looked unusually pale, which was saying something, as he was the kind of kid who would glow during the day time. He also looked a good deal more frazzled than usual. Historia chose to ignore that, for once in her life she was wanting to put herself first. 

“Yeah. She’s home, but don’t….” Historia pushed past him in a hurry before he could get his warning out in full. She was already halfway up the first flight of stairs, making like a mad woman for their cousin’s bedroom. With a sigh the weary boy made his way to the kitchen. Their fellow housemate, Mina Karolina – who had the room below Annie’s, was also taking refuge there.

“Whoever Annie brought home certainly knows which of her buttons to press.” Mina had dark circles under her eyes, the coffee cup beside her was empty, and it looked like she had given up on the pile of readings beside her a long time ago, her laptop was open and a movie was paused on the screen. Armin put his board against the wall and sat down at the kitchen table. With a sigh he propped his head up with one hand and absentmindedly pulled one of Mina’s readings towards him and began to flick through it.

“You have no idea how weird this is for me. My cousin is sleeping with one of my best friends…And I heard nearly everything before I realised what was going on…” Mina gave Armin a very sympathetic look, resting a hand on his shoulder as she moved past him to pour herself another cup of coffee.

“At least one of us in this house is getting some action?” Mina said wryly, _not at all_ bitter about the sorry state of her own love life. Or lack thereof. She, like Armin, was studying towards a degree in medicine. They both were in second year, and both of them studied too hard. Their social life often felt like it was limited to the shared kitchen of their low budget studio apartment.  

“That’s one way to look at it I guess…” Both of them sighed as they heard the door to Annie’s room slam shut and Historia’s muffled surprised squawk. Looking Mina dead in the eye Armin did his best not to implode. “I tried to warn her but…”

“There there…” Mina set a mug of tea before him and settle back in to her seat. “Impromptu study session to weather the imminent shit storm?”

“Sure. Thanks.” Armin sipped on his mug of tea gratefully, and the two of them did their best to forget about the sounds they had heard before Historia had come home.

Historia was going through a revelation. Standing in her cousins room with the door firmly shut behind her, she took in the sight. At first things didn’t process. Then they processed too quickly. Snuggled into the crook of Annie’s neck, a sheet pulled up around her shoulders was one of Annie’s long-time rivals. Annie was absent mindedly running her fingers through Mikasa Ackeman’s hair as the other girl slept. She fixed Historia with her trademark cool stare.

“Where you raised in a tent?” Annie asked dryly. She was rather enjoying seeing her usually bubbly cousin flounder in confusion. Mikasa stirred slightly against, grumbling and opening her eyes. She too regarded Historia with an unperturbed stare. They both looked oddly satisfied. Historia shook her head and tried to recall why she had burst into the room in the first place.

“Just…don’t do your thing in the shower…” was what she managed.

“Whatever…” Annie actually chuckled, her eyebrow raised. “Is there a reason you came flying in here? Or did the twerp put you up to this?”

“Ah. No, um Armin did try to warn me now that I think about it.” Historia resolved to listen to her younger cousin more often. “I have uh…something I wanted to ask your advice on actually. But if you’re busy...”

“Nah. We’re done…”

“I’m really not sure how to feel about that…”

“You really should learn to knock then…”

“Sorry.”

“So what’s your problem?”

“Ah.…do you remember that girl I was pestering Armin about?”

“The tall, freckled, Uniformed goddess from the libraries on campus?”

“Yeah….” Historia felt the heat rise to her cheeks as Annie and Mikasa gave each other a knowing look.

“Go on….”

“Well, I ran into her tonight at the work, and we hung out for a bit when my shift was over…and I bloodied her lip…and got her number…and somehow we’re going out for coffee next Wednesday and I’m not sure if it’s a date??? A-anyway…I’m just kind of confused about this all. I didn’t want to talk to Armin about it because you know how awkward he is with ‘mushy talk’…. ”

“You pretty much talked his ear off the other day about this chick…but do go on…”

“Urgh…why did I even bother coming in here…”

“You would have had time to consider your options if you had stopped to knock…”

“….” Historia slumped down onto Annie’s desk chair. She was well aware that Annie was getting far too much of a kick out of her confused misery. There was no way she was living this down any time soon. In any other family the boot would be on Historia’s foot, but Annie had control here. 

“Wait…hold up. How did you bloody her lip?” This time Mikasa spoke, she sounded highly amused. She and Historia had known each other since High School. They got along well enough, they weren’t as close Armin and Mikasa, or by the looks of things Annie and Mikasa, but they shared a few common friends and interests. They knew enough about each other for them to find this situation both awkward and hilarious.     

“I moshed too hard…”

“Wait, you were moshing?” Annie sounded impressed.

“Yes. But that’s not the issue here.”

“No it’s not. You being born in a tent is.”

“Arghhhh!!!!!” In the kitchen Armin and Mina flinched, then resumed their study, pointedly ignoring Historia’s yell of despair.

“Historia. Calm down. Use your words.”

Taking a deep breath, Historia began to order her thoughts. In reality she knew nothing about Ymir besides her name and the fact she worked security on campus. She was attractive enough in her own right, she did seem a bit rough around the edges though. Historia had no idea what the other girl possessed that made her so flustered and that alone was adding a good deal of stress to the situation.

“I just have no idea what to do…like I haven’t been on a proper date since that disaster I went on with Reiner in High School.” Annie snorted as she remembered the mismatch that had been that experience. Historia had lost a bet, and the date was the punishment game. To Historia’s credit she had done her best to deal with Reiner’s creepy-over-eagerness. But, by the end of it all, the poor boy was wearing a hat of ice-cream and a rather nice red cheek after trying to plant one on Historia. Annie’s snort developed into a chortle as Historia continued.  

“I don’t even know if this is a date…”

“Did either of you say the word _date?_ ”

“No. At least I don’t think so.”

“Then it’s not a date. Was there anything else you were wanting to talk about?” Annie was carding her fingers absentmindedly through Mikasa’s silky hair. Mikasa was looking like she was going to nod off again, but as she nuzzled somewhat affectionately into Annie’s neck, she opened her eyes and addressed Historia.

“You’re thinking too much. If you like her, go for it. If you don’t, just keep it friendly.”

“….” Historia wrinkled her brow as her chest squeezed. She didn’t like the idea of keeping it _friendly_. Chewing on her lip she began to weigh out the pros and cons of the whole situation.

“What if I don’t know how to just…go for it?” looking to Mikasa for guidance, she got none when Mikasa shrugged her shoulders beneath the sheet. Annie smirked and gave her cousin a look.

“You use your words Historia…”

“But what words?”

“The right ones.”

“……” With a sigh Histora stood up and went to leave. “Thanks for your help…I guess.” As she reached the door and opened it she fixed her cousin with a steely gaze. “Keep it down up here. I think you’ve scarred Mina and Armin for life…”

Annie flipped the bird at Historia as she shut the door. Historia made her way downstairs to the kitchen where Armin and Mina were busy arguing over the properties of some disease or another. Historia made herself a mug of sleepy time tea and climbed back up to her room pointedly ignoring the murmurs coming through the wall that separated her and Annie’s room.

Getting ready for bed she tried to supress the thoughts swirling around in her brain. It was a long way until Wednesday. She had time to figure things out. Right now she was tired. She was going to go to sleep and hope to goodness that she didn’t have any weird dreams.


	4. The Sign Up Sheet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ymir is a bossy tart and something of a worry wart. She's also worrying everyone around her with how productive she's been over the last few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a filler chapter of sorts...sorry guys.

For Ymir the three days after the concert were spent balancing hangovers, readings and work. Despite her excitement for the imminent coffee meet-up with Historia, she managed to convince herself to chip off the opening chapter of her dissertation. In something of a new record she was only late for one of her classes on Monday, and that was only because she’d managed to bail off her board and bang her knee and facce up on her way there. The blood on her ripped jeans and now re-split lip had earned her an eye roll from her professor rather than a docking of her attendance mark.

At present it was a little before 10 in the morning and the sun was shining through the window of their dingy flat. The cactai, herbs and spices on their windowsill were doing a good job of keeping alive. That might have had something to do with the fact that their tall, quiet flatmate Berthold had forbidden both Ymir and Reiner from going anywhere near them. For once the trash was all sorted, and the dishes in the sink were done. Ymir had finally flipped last night when she couldn’t find any more plates to eat off of and she’d threated her flatmates with eviction unless every plate, bowl, cup and spoon found it’s way back into the kitchen. Her and Berthold had spent the good part of an hour scrubbing the mold off of everything.

“Dude…are you sick or something?” Marco sat on the couch in their cramped living room. He had an x-box controller in one hand and a bowl of cereal and milk in the other. The game was paused and he was speaking around the spoon as he looked up at her bewildered.

“Nah. Why?” Ymir was busy stuffing textbooks and work essentials into her beat up back pack. Despite the late summer heat she was also already wearing her work uniform under a light hoddie.

“You’ve been acting kinda weird the last couple of days…”

“How so?” her tone of voice contained a warning for Marco, but after living with her nearly all of his life, he totally ignored it and pressed on.

“You’ve been going to school on time, you’ve been in the library to actually study and you’ve actually turned in a couple of assignments on time. Who the hell lit the fire under your arse, and what paper do they teach? Mum wants to nominate them for a medal….” He deftly dodged Reiner’s fluffy slipper as Ymir sent it flying his way with force.

“Look, I just don’t want to shoot myself in the foot for the rest of the semester.”

“That’s never been a problem for you before…I’ve seen you cram four or five months’ worth of work into three days…”

“And never again man. I couldn’t see straight for days after that….” Ymir shuddered as she recalled the mammoth amount of caffeine she had consumed to stay awake to hand in her final project last year. It had been a reality check for sure.

“You’ve never _seen_ straight in your life.”

“Marco….”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.” The other fluffy slipper went sailing in his direction. Again he dodged, shovelling cornflakes into his mouth and unpausing his game.

The sound of some poor dragon being massacred was the only thing heard for a few minutes as Ymir hurriedly packed a dinner for her night shift and checked to see if her tie and high viz vest were in her bag. She took a brief moment to flick through the pile of mail one of the flatmates had rescued from their letter box, extracting her own personal bills and a letter from her Mum and tucking them into her bag too. Sorting through the rest she put the flat bills in the special box they had set aside. As she was about to throw out the junk mail, she caught sight on something with a post-it-note tacked to it. Rescuing it and glancing over it properly she realised it was somewhat important.

“Hey Marco,” she called over the excessive volume of her brother’s conquest, “when you drop by the supermarket today can you make sure to drop by _The Bog_ and hand in the quiz team registrations. I nearly threw it out. Your teams form is here too – though you seem to be a man or two short.”

“Yup yup. We’ve got that last couple of slots sorted. Don’t worry. We’ll kick your ass…”

“Make sure Bert and Ernie take a look at the bills for the month too. Also we’re out of milk and eggs.”

“Sure.”

“Don’t forget, you little shit.”

“I love you too Ymir.”

Miming vomiting, she picked up her board and walked out the door, leaving her brother with a rare moment of peace in their busy flat.

 On her way to the first of two classes she had, Ymir finally let herself think about what was happening today. She knew it wasn’t a real date, but the promised coffee with Historia was about as close to one as she had gotten in the last three years.

She had briefly dabbled in the queer dating scene in her first year of Uni, only to have her heart broken soon after when her then girlfriend had broken things off with her to go on an exchange in their second year. The girl had liked the Universities and women in Germany so much that she had decided to stay. Ymir hadn’t really met anyone that caught her eye since.

She still couldn’t put her finger on what exactly drew her to Historia. But she figured she had time to figure it out. She was cute for sure, hot even, but there was something else there that pulled Ymir in and made her want to know more. A part of her wanted to be freaking out and running as fast as she could in the other direction, she was more nervous about going for coffee with Historia than she cared to admit. But a bigger part of her was excited and wanted to stick around and see where all this would go.

 _Worse comes to worst, I’ll get a new friend. Everyone’s always badgering on at me to make more of those._ She thought, trying to put a positive spin on things.

Dodging through the foot traffic on her board, she forced down the butterflies that were rumbling around her belly. She began to run through her schedule for the day in an effort to keep her nerves in check. First she had an English Lit class, then she had an hour or so to go and find lunch and finish her readings before her second class started. Her and Historia had been texting throughout the week, and had agreed to sit together during Classics 301, and then they would go to the café where Sasha and Connie worked part time. 

Their chosen venue added another dimension of worry to Ymir’s plate. She was pretty sure that Sasha and Connie only worked on Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings, but for some reason their shifts had changed this week. Ymir had received a gleeful text from Sasha sometime after 2am on Tuesday morning informing her of the change, and a weary feeling had been hovering around Ymir’s gut ever since. Whatever the two pranksters had planned was bound to be embarrassing, but then Historia at least seemed to be used to dealing with Sasha’s weirdness to some degree.

Sighing Ymir kicked her board up into her hand and carried herself into the first lecture of the morning. There wasn’t much she could do at this point but cross her fingers and hope that she didn’t make too much of a tit of herself.

"Oh hey Armin!" Ymir spotted the tiny blonde as she entered the student union. The boy took one look at her and then he pointed an accusatory finger at her.

"YOU." He practically bellowed, both startling and impressing Ymir (and several other students in the vicinity) at the same time. Armin marched towards her, his eyebrows and lips both set in a grim line. "You have been stalking my cousin..."

"Wait, what?" Ymir lived her life in a state of near constant confusion, but this was something else. "I haven't been anywhere near Annie since like...the flat-warming party at Jean's a month ago."

"Not that cousin. The other one...Historia. Why were you two fighting the other night? How the heck did you get her number?"

"Hold the phone, you barcode-scanning nitwit." Armin looked almost impressed with Ymir's ability to insult him without using foul language. "She asked for mine, and for the record, she smashed open my face with her skull accidentally... there was no fight....where the fuck did you hear that from? Or rather, who the fuck?"

"Wait what?" That was not the story he'd heard from Mina, who had heard it from Reiner, who had heard it from Jean. His sources had been weirdly unreliable recently. 

"We were at the same concert. She just happened to be working at the bar. I was with Sasha and Connie, we bought tickets as soon as the thing was announced five months ago. They all seem to know each other from when Sasha did law, so Historia came and hung out with us after her shift had finished. She smashed open my lip towards the end of the concert because she was moshing in front of me. Turns out she's in the same interest paper as me too...so we're gonna hang out after class today." Armin was looking at Ymir in disbeleif. "Look dude. I promise I haven't been weird about this. I know I tried to hit on her the other day, but I'm really trying to go about this as decently and honestly as possible...whatever this is..."

Armin sighed in defeat. First Annie and Mikasa, and now this - whatever this was. The way Historia had been babbling on about Ymir for the last couple of weeks was just as bad as Marco had been about Jean. Armin was fairly bright, but one thing he didn't understand was why all his friends had started pairing off in the last few months. He wouldn't have been surprised if something was in the water, but it was probably more likely in the beer and cocktail of hormones that he should have memorized names and properties for the test coming up in two weeks. 

"Shit. Gonna be late for first class. Chew me out later boy. In my defense, your cousin is the one who asked for my number and bloodied my lip. Not the other way around...for a change....oh, and Marco is handing the forms for the Pub Quiz today. If you see him can you make sure he knows he actually has to go into the pub and talk to Erwin or Levi?" Ymir escaped with more haste than should have been possible for someone weighed down by both a long-board and a backpack crammed full of textbooks and food.   

Armin sighed again, adjusted his binder discretely and shuffled off in the direction of the chemistry lab. 


	5. Burnt Noodles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Historia is in a bit of a tizz. Mina is skipping classes, Armin is taking notes. (It's another filler).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's using this as their NaNo WriMo Project? None of this has been properly checked yet as I'm using this site for a place to back up, but if you want to help beta, drop me a line! Hit me up here or on tumblr. astormyknight is my tumblr handle.

Historia was still freaking out. Today was the day. It was a miracle that nothing in their flat had exploded since the start of this debacle.  She had set her toast on fire this morning though. She hadn’t been sleeping well and it was amazing that any of her readings had been done – though she suspected that was down to the discipline her law lecturers had hammered into her and the rest of her class since she was a first year. The fear of their marking rubric outweighed all other problems facing anyone in the course.

“Yo! Historia, your noodles are gonna be crispy if you don’t wake up!” Mina had emerged from the dark cave that was her room for the second time that day to the smell of burning food. She most definitely wasn’t skipping classes to finish off an assignment. Praise be to Armin Arlet for agreeing to take notes for her and tell their professor she was off with a nasty cold.

With a jolt Historia snapped back into reality and rescued her now singed noodles. She scraped them off the bottom of the pot and dumped them into her favourite bowl. She set the pot in the sink with water to soak and then added the seasonings to her disaster of a lunch. Mina took pity on her and poured them both a glass of chocolate milk. Grumbling appreciatively around a mouthful of noodles, Historia absentmindedly flicked through a pile of notes as she ate.

“Is everything ok? You’ve been acting kind of weird the last few days…Armin’s worried, and I’ll admit, you’re starting to freak me out a little.” Pushing down the lever to set her toast cooking Mina pulled a chair up opposite to Historia and peered at her over her own cup of chocolate milk.

“I think I’m just a little stressed?” Historia tried, knowing full well this answer was not going to satisfy her friend and housemate.

“You think? Dude, we’re all stressed, but like, none of us are ‘burn noodles’ stressed…and that’s saying something with at least two of us in Med.” Mina scrunched her nose as the smell was still lingering in the kitchen. She stood and cracked open a window, letting a cool summer breeze flutter through. “The whole thing with Annie has Armin worked up, though like, I’m not sure that bothers you as much…”

Historia flapped a hand in Mina’s direction as she inhaled a mouthful of noodles. While walking in on Annie and Mikasa hadn’t been ideal, Historia had survived a year living at a Hall of Residence at the University when she first started. She’d walked in on much more interesting scenes.

“It’s not that...” She inhaled another mouthful to give herself time to think. Mina’s toast went off, causing both of them to startle. Historia nearly choked. Once the aftermath of that disaster had settled, and Historia could breathe again, Mina resumed her interrogation with a butter knife in hand.

“If it’s not that, then what exactly is it?”

“To be honest, I’m not even sure? Like, schools busy, I have a shit ton of readings and cases to review, but it’s been that way since first year. I can handle that. Work’s either full on or not on at all, which is a little stressful when you’re trying to keep up rent and food costs.” Taking a break to breathe, Historia frowned and considered whether she wanted what was coming next to be out in the open to anyone else.

Annie, and to a point Mikasa, already had some idea of what was going on. That was bad enough being that Annie was using it as a sort of black mail to keep her liaison with Mikasa hush hush from anybody outside of the flat. Shaking off the memory of threats made earlier in the week Historia took a plunge.

“My social and dating life died like…two years ago… but I might have also met someone? But I’m not sure? I don’t know what I really want though. Do I want a friend? Or do I want someone like Annie and Mikasa? Like how do people navigate all this without going crazy…”

Mina sat back and took a bite of her toast, digesting the closest thing to word vomit she had witnessed from the usually succinct Historia. She could relate on nearly all levels. She locked on to the obvious problem.

“So you’ve got a squish or a crush then.”

“Yeah. Probably. And I’m going to be hanging out with them at least once a week this semester because we share a paper…”

“So you’ve got time to figure things out.”

“Yes. No. I don’t know…the truth is I’ve kind of been stalking them with my eyes for at least a year.”

“Wait what? Really?”

“Yeah. They work security at the library.”

“Ohhhhhhh…..this is the chick who’s nose you bloodied!”  

Historia lowered her forehead to the table to stop the blush rising to her cheeks. Waving a hand in the air above her head she sighed.

“Yes there’s that too. I’ve got a class and a coffee date with her today as well. It’s not a real date though. It’s to make up for the whole bloody nose thing…”

“Look the fact that she’s wanting to have coffee with you after you bloodied her nose is a positive sign! From what I’ve heard from Annie, Ymir’s really chill.” Looking across the table she could see none of what she was saying was helping so she changed gears, “Also, speaking of Ymir. Her brother Marco is looking for people to be on his quiz team this semester. It’s for the local competition up at The Bog. Once a week on Wednesday nights from seven till nine. Both students and professors join in. The prizes are pretty good and it’s only $5 a night for all you can eat fries and a free beer. I’m joining, you need a study break, join in with me!”

“Urghhh. Fine. That at least deals with my social life issue.”

“Exactly. Stop worrying about everything. Take it as it comes.”

“You know that’s easier said than done Mina. I’m a control freak remember?”

“Well first you need to get control on not burning your every meal. Then you can start thinking about controlling the direction of your friendships. Until then, just relax. There’s really no need to rush anything…”

“Fair point.” Gulping down the last of her chocolate milk, Historia stood up and began to deal with the singed pot in the sink. After a while Mina finished up her toast and began to collect all the stray mugs and plates littering the kitchen and began rinsing them, then giving them a proper clean and stacking them. Soon the kitchen was back to a somewhat-clean state and the smell of burn food was overpowered by dishwashing soap. “Mina, thanks.”

“No worries. Good chat.”

“Good chat. Right, I better drag myself down to the law building. I’ve got three hours until I have to see her in class.”

“Historia…stop stressing. Just relax. Be yourself. Focus on getting to know her, not counting her freckles or getting lost in her wonderful brown eyes…hey ow!” Mina giggled as Historia took a swipe at her with the dish towel as the finished up.

“Ok, Ok. Also let me know when the first quiz night is ok?”

“Sure. Historia….?”

“Yeah?”

“Good luck!”

“Thanks Mina. If you ever need to vent, you know where I live.”

The two exchanged tired smiles as Historia left the kitchen to pack for the day and Mina resolved herself to finally finish the report she had been avoiding all morning at Armin’s expense.

Historia left the house feeling a good deal more relaxed and prepared than she had felt in the last three days, though the anticipation was bubbling away in her stomach like crazy.

 


	6. People Watching and Shooting the Breeze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MORE FILLER! Next chapter is the coffee shop scene I swear....

After her encounter with Armin, Ymir had nervously vibrated her way through her morning class, much to the annoyance of the fellow honours student sitting next to her during the group discussion. Any contribution she made to the class was brief but somehow still muddled. It got to the point where the supervisor just gave up and started to avoid asking Ymir the focus questions, much to the relief of the other already overwhelmed students in the room. By the time the period ended she was so worked up she was even contemplating skipping the Classics lecture and coffee date all together. The thought of the teasing that would result from such an action was the one thing that locked her weak resolve in place.

Deciding against her third coffee of the day between classes, Ymir decided to calm herself with an over-priced juice from the student union. Claiming a window seat, she settled in for some people watching while picking at her home-made lunch. She had no idea how she was going to survive this afternoon – let alone why it was such a big deal. All this worry was mounting over meeting up with some chick who shared a class with her, as well as a small cross section of her friend group, and apparently a very similar taste in music. The two of them had been texting on and off over the three days, hashing out their meet up and trying to covertly feel the other out in terms of personality, but still neither of them were entirely satisfied with the information they had managed to gather.  

To pass the time between classes Ymir played a game of ‘guess the major by what they’re wearing’. It was a game that her and Marco had started together when he made it up to Uni the year after her, it was definitely a lot more fun to play with at least one other person, but seeing that her brother was probably nose deep in some book in the library at the present moment, she had no choice but to play the solo version.

It wasn’t always accurate, especially in the winter as it was pretty much impossible since everybody apart from the PE department got around in puffer jackets and as many layers as they could humanly wear, but during the summer it was a lot less difficult. That and anybody in who was dressed to the nines was more than likely a Law Major. So between that and the PE school it narrowed it down a bit. It also helped that she knew a lot of the general student body, at least by face due to work, so she had some basis on which to pick her guesses. There were a few majors that were harder to pick than others, English being one of them. Largely because the group was split down the middle – a portion of the students could be mistaken for Law Students, the other half could be mistaken for homeless youth. Ymir, when she didn’t have work, fell into the latter category.

Added to that, on the Union lawn outside the cafeteria, there was a group of regulars. They were all sitting on well worn picnic rugs and scattered among circus equipment were banners with slogans against the animal testing lab being built and for the legalisation of recreational weed. A few of them were smoking, all of them seemed relaxed, hardly a care in the world. Ymir covertly watched as the group chatted among themselves and practiced everything from juggling diablos to slack lining between two of the wizened old cherry trees on the lawn.

There was no way she could guess their major from what they were wearing, but she knew from the odd conversation she’d accidently struck up with s few of them that a fair number were scattered among the sciences with the rest being in philosophy or psychology.  Watching the colourful bunch helped her pass some time.

Glancing at the clock from time to time, Ymir sipped slowly on her juice and tried her best to zone out. It would be better for her to go into this whole thing as zen as possible. Socialising had never been her strong suit, but she was (according to both Bert and Erine) making progress. Slowly the minute hand crept closer to the hour and her sandwiches disappeared along with her juice. By the time she was down to her last sip and bite, it was time to start moving. Stuffing her empty containers back into her bag she checked her cell phone before shuffling out of the union towards the lecture hall with her longboard tucked under her arm. 

She was one of the first to arrive, which despite her track record for everything else, was not unusual. What was unusual was that instead of heading directly for her seat at the back of the class she lingered outside the door to wait. Taking calming breaths, she tried to remember the readings she’d finally managed to do for this class. Today they were supposed to be going over some burial customs from several eras of roman history.  As morbid as it was, she did find it fascinating. The readings had been a good deal easier to get through than her linguistics ones she’d had to battle with for classes this morning. But then she wasn’t taking that class for fun, this one she was.

“Hey!” Ymir nearly dropped her board as Historia cheerfully greeted her by sneaking up behind her and resting a hand on her elbow. A touch of colour rose to her cheeks as she turned to face the girl.

“Hey….” She responded, turning and mustering something as close to a welcoming smile as she could. She felt the cut on her lip tug a little as she forced her face into a shape it wasn’t accustomed to. Hoping she didn’t come across as some kind of goblin in the face department, she gestured awkwardly to the door to the lecture hall. “Ah…shall we?”

“Sure. Where do you want to sit?” Historia beamed up at Ymir, startling herself with the bubbling excitement she could feel building. Where had all the nervousness from earlier gone?

“Any where’s good. Like, I’ve done the readings so if he calls on me I can probably answer…but like if you’re wanting to hide, let’s sit at the back.”

“I’m wanting to hide. To be honest I’m probably going to end up napping. Can I borrow your notes when we go for coffee?”

“Sure. How’s all your other assignments and stuff going?” Ymir was impressing herself, so far she’d managed a somewhat normal conversation. Sure, five seconds was setting the bar pretty low, but Ymir would take even the small victories when it came to socialising with a pretty girl. Holding the door open she let Historia duck past and then followed her to the back row where they sat near the corner.

“I don’t want to even think about how much stuff I have to power through before Friday. How’s your dissertation going?” Historia pulled out a pad of refill and her pencil case and sat down.

“Urgggh. I finally finished the introduction and started on the literature review. I’m working on setting up the research portion right now. There’s a couple of things I have to ask my supervisor about before Friday, but I might actually be able to relax a little next week. Which is nice. I’ve got three extra night shifts because of the cricket and rugby going on.” Ymir settled in next to Historia, pulling out the folder she used for this class. Retrieving the print out of the lecture slides for the lesson, she took out a multi pen from her hoddie pocket and began tapping it on the fold out table. She knew she probably looked ridiculous, the seats here were not made for tall people. She prayed that nobody had stuck gum to the underside of it as she pressed her knees against the underside.

“I forgot about that. That means that George Street’s probably going to be really noisy next week huh.”

“Probably. I know it’ll be worse than usual on Thursday because of the rugby, but the cricket is on the Saturday during the day, so it shouldn’t be too bad. The match should finish before 5pm so it should just be the usual crowd of freshers making a racket on Saturday night.”

The two of them continued to shoot the breeze about the coming week as their classmates wandered in and set up. Historia noticed the weird looks the two of them were getting for sitting together, but let it slide. Ymir seemed to be oblivious to them. Shortly after the last student scuttled in, the lecturer breezed in and began to set up the computer. The assistant handed out a bunch of readings for the next class and the lecture began.

While Ymir seemed to be deeply engrossed in what was being discussed, it didn’t take long for Historia to make good on her prediction and nod off. Seeing her shiver while she dozed, Ymir shrugged off her hoddie and draped it over the sleeping girl before turning back to the lecture and furiously scribbling down notes.

Any nerves either of them felt had seemingly vanished for the time being. Ymir was still a little tense, but in the dim light of the lecture hall it felt like the two of them had known each other for a long time rather than just a handful of days and two or three chance encounters.


End file.
